“Noncommitable” Offers Show Why Written Offers Are A Big Deal

There is not as many interesting things to report from the NCAA’s Regional Rules Seminar here in Denver. A lot of it is very technical, not even immediately useful to someone who is no longer working on a campus. But one nugget was interesting. While major violation penalties have gotten the attention, the NCAA is also racketing up and expanding penalties for some secondary violations. For example, sending a written scholarship offer to a prospect prior to August 1 of their senior year will carry a suspension of the head and/or assistant coach.

Why is that? Because of where verbal offers are going:

Alabama’s scholarship offers at some positions, most notably quarterback, are non-committable and pending an evaluation at summer camp.

As many have pointed out, that is not an offer, it is an invitation to a tryout (on the prospect’s dime since schools may not offer free or reduced camp admission to prospects).

Prospects already have reported that early written offers are a big deal in recruiting, but this both explains and highlights why. Verbal offers can sometimes not even be real offers. Rarely though would a coach email or send a prospect a letter which includes a scholarship offer that is not one the prospect can accept.